A former French minister stirred up controversy on Friday after saying Germany "took our Jews and gave us Arabs" as France began taking some of the thousands of refugees arriving in Germany, reports AFP.
Patrick Devedjian, a right-winger who served in the governments of presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, made the remark at a press conference, but quickly tried to backtrack on social media.
"My humorous jest was misplaced," Devedjian wrote on his Twitter account, saying he regretted it all the more because he himself helps refugees in need.
Devedjian, who comes from an Armenian family and now leads the Hauts-de-Seine region of wealthy suburbs west of Paris, said the joke was meant to be about Syrian and Iraqi refugees.
He flirted with the extreme-right in his youth before moving into more mainstream politics.